Category Archives: Dessert

You might be wondering about me these days. First, I haven’t posted in over a year and then I show up with the bone broth recipe and now a vegan recipe? What’s the deal? Well, we aren’t vegan, but I love finding vegan recipes because they are egg free and Noah is allergic to eggs.

And also, it was New Years’ Eve 2012 when things changed drastically in our family, health-wise. You can read all about it here. Little did I know that my being in “Super Immunity Building Mode” would lead us to a year of learning, changing and ultimately eating much differently than what we ever had before. ‘Differently’ meaning, over the course of the past year we have become gluten free, soy free, and eat very limited dairy – and only raw at that. We eat very limited sugar, buy as much as we can that is organic, local farmed and raised, and purchase very little processed foods. The result? We’re all healthier. Without a doubt. We still have questions about reactions here and there – it’s such a mystery sometimes – and we still sometimes crave things we shouldn’t have. It’s so hard to deprive the kids of things they love. If only I didn’t raise a family of foodies!

Enter, these delicious brownies. They are so soft and chocolatey, and a huge bonus – they’re easy to make! If you’ve ever made gluten free recipes, you might know how uh…high maintenance…they can be. Everyone loved these brownies – in fact, they may already be gone!

Pour the batter into your square baking dish and smooth out. Bake for 25 minutes, being careful to not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes. Use the parchment paper to lift the brownies out of the pan, then cut into squares. Store in air tight container. You may want to place some parchment or wax paper between the brownies to avoid having them stick together. Enjoy!

*Here is the flour blend I used in this recipe:
4 cups superfine brown rice flour
2 cups sweet white rice flour
2 cups potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup cornstarch
5 teaspoons xanthan gum
Stir or whisk together and store in a ziploc or other container. I store all of my flours in the freezer and let them come to room temperature before using.

I found this recipe from Mark’s Daily Apple, and I’ve revised it to my liking. The first taste I had of these made me smile as though I had eaten a Reese’s. Sugar against salt. Crunchy against soft. These are outrageous. Truly as good as candy. I’m not joking.

Toast nuts until golden. Chop finely in a food processor. Melt oil and almond butter in microwave for about 20 seconds. Stir until smooth. Add vanilla, honey, and sea salt to mixture. Stir. Fold into nut mixture. Fold in raisins. Line an 8 x 4 in loaf pan with waxed paper. Or you could press the mixture into a small sheet pan like this:

The bars will be too thin if you spread the mixture across the entire pan. Spread the mixture and press evenly. Chill about 20 minutes or until firm. Cut into about 6 bars, depending on the size of your pan.

These are high in calories, but very healthy. A perfect pre-workout snack.

This is a delicious cookie that is fun and festive during the holidays, and also a little different from some of the normal cookie fare you might see in the month of December. The oatmeal gives a crunchy texture and the cranberries make the cookie wonderfully chewy. And the chocolate drizzle? What better way to top off this yummy cookie?!

Beat butter until creamy. Add next 5 ingredients and beat until combined. Stir in oats, cranberries and walnuts. Drop on greased cookie sheet and bake @ 375 for 10 to 12 minutes and let cool. Melt chocolate chips in 30 second intervals in microwave until almost completely melted. Be careful not to burn the chocolate! Spoon the chocolate into a ziploc, and snip a tiny section off a corner. Drizzle over cooled cookies and let set.

These cookies represent Christmas to me. I’ve made them for years. Their wonderfully, buttery, melt-your-mouth goodness take me to the best of the holidays. These are a classic. They’re just a simple shortbread mixed with pecans and rolled in sugar.

Heat oven to 325. In a large mixer bowl, combine flour, nuts, granulated sugar, butter and vanilla. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl, until well mixed. Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Remove immediately from the cookie sheet. Roll in powdered sugar while slightly warm and again when cool.

This is another Cherchio holiday favorite. I’ve adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine for Michael, who is very particular with his sugar intake. This is truly as delicious as pumpkin pie. The flavors are so amazing together that you’ll never miss the sugar, but I’ve included the measurements in case you prefer sugar. This recipe isn’t nearly as complicated as it sounds. It’s easy to whip up, and is great because it can be made ahead.

Whisk 3/4 c whipping cream, sugar or Splenda, and egg yolks in a heavy, medium saucepan. Stir over low heat until thickened to pudding consistency, about 10 minutes (do not allow to boil or the egg yolks will become grainy). Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Mix in pumpkin, rum, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Chill for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reserve 1/2 c of whipped cream for garnish. Gently fold the remaining whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture. Cover and chill about 4 hours.

Meanwhile, make the toasted nuts. Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the nuts, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Add the sweetener or sugar, and sprinkle with a dash of cinnamon. Toast the nuts until crisped and golden brown. This intensifies the flavors.

Assemble the Mousse
In each of 4 goblet bowls, create a layer about 1/3 c of mousse. Sprinkle with nuts, followed by another layer of mousse. Cover and freeze.

The assembled mousse can be covered and chilled the day before. Top with a dollop of the whipped cream.

Are you looking for a pumpkin pie recipe? Look no more! This is actually my mom’s recipe, and the pie you see in the photo above is her creation.

My mom and dad are pretty picky particular about their pumpkin pie, which bodes well for the rest of us. When my mom found this recipe years ago, she stopped her search and has made this pie ever since. It is the perfect light, but not too light, texture and the spices compliment the pumpkin so perfectly.

So now that you have a recipe for an excellent pie crust, take out your blender* and whip this right up!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drop the butter into the same measuring cup with the hot milk, to melt and combine. Put all ingredients in blender and blend well. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 35 minutes longer or until knife inserted comes out clean.

*My Grandma Nisly taught my mom that using the blender for pumpkin pie makes a huge difference in the texture of your pumpkin pie. The result is creamy deliciousness!

This post is dedicated to my nephew Chris, our brave marine. Before he left for bootcamp last Thanksgiving, I fed him a ridiculous amount of pie. And he humored me by eating every last bite. You make me proud Chris.

This recipe is from Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts, a classic that I bought many years ago when we were first married. I had dreams of entertaining like Martha, while eating a lovely piece of pie on a rolling lawn. It never happened.

But in the meantime, I did learn how to make a mean pie crust. Here are my secrets:

Butter not Crisco. That’s really all I need to say.

Flour (I happen to be extremely lucky, because my sister-in-law Linda has a Whisper Mill wheat grinder. She uses it to grind her own flour, which she kindly shares with me. And it makes the best pie crusts. Evah. You can still make perfectly good pie crusts with white flour. But Linda’s nutty wheat flour never gets doughy on the bottom.

Emile Henry pie plates: Ever since Michael got me a pair of these beauties for Christmas, I’ve been in love. They heat perfectly evenly, and nothing sticks to the bottom. Plus they’re so pretty, they make me sigh.

Silpat: Is it wrong to feel love for a sheet of silicone? I think not. Rolling out pastry dough does not have to be difficult.

Cuisinart: A couple quick pulses of a food processor gets you to the coarse meal stage in seconds.

As wonderful as my secrets are, my mom makes perfectly amazing pie crusts by rolling out her dough between two bread bags, cut open and laid flat on the table. She trims and crimps her crusts so fast it would make your head spin. I make more of a production of my crusts. Part of my pie ritual is that I demand silence: music must be turned off, TV muted, breaths held, until the moment that I unfold my crust in the pan. Then I exhale and we all celebrate the season of pumpkin pie.

Combine flour and salt in the food processor with a couple quick pulses. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.

With the machine running, add 1/4 c ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Flattening your dough will make it chill more quickly and evenly. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Now’s the part where you roll up your sleeves. Sprinkle the Silpat with a little flour. Roll out one of the disks into a large round, thin sheet.

After it’s rolled out, lightly dust the surface with a little flour. Carefully fold the dough into quarters and lay into the pan.

Once it is in the pan, you can unfold it, and gently press it around the bottom and sides. Fill it with goodness and enjoy.

My mom was famous for her snicker doodles. They were love at first bite: slightly crisp crust of thin, cinnamon-sugary goodness on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside. Add some pumpkin, and you have taken it to a whole new level.

That’s what Annie did. This recipe is off the hook. Unlike my usual attitude of “everything needs some changin’,” I didn’t alter a single bit of this recipe. And these cookies say fall to me.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the pumpkin puree. Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend. Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly. Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container.

Did you know that cinnamon pieces existed? I didn’t. They’re like chocolate chips…but not. They have the same shape as chocolate chips but are cinnamon flavored. While I like to think that I have a decent knowledge of the items offered at the grocery store, I have to say that I had never heard of cinnamon pieces until this summer. I was helping my neighbor clean out her kitchen because she was moving out of state and couldn’t take very much with her. She started flinging things off her pantry shelves and into my arms. A bag of cinnamon pieces landed under my nose and I thought, “when will I ever use these?”

Fast forward to now. Fall. I was thumbing through a magazine and spotted a recipe for a fruity cinnamon bar. Fortunately it was one that I could adapt and change up a little to suit my Fall-gotta-have-something-appleish needs. And it listed cinnamon pieces as one of the ingredients. Bonus.

These bars are wonderful (and sweet!) and are like a little bite of apple pie in your mouth. The cinnamon pieces melt into all of the apple goodness. Purely delish.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. Add the 2 c. flour, the oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the bowl of your food processor. Add the cubes of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Remove 1 1/2 c. of the mixture for topping and set aside. Press the remaining oats mixture into the bottom of the baking pan and bake for 15 minutes. For filling, in a medium bowl combine eggs and sugar. Stir in the 2 T. flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in apples and cinnamon pieces. Spread filling evenly over hot crust. Sprinkle with reserved oats mixture. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until top is golden. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Drizzle with Powdered Sugar Icing.

Powdered Sugar Icing
1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
In a small bowl stir together the powdered sugar and milk until it reaches drizzling consistency.

I have a picky eater. He came by it naturally. I too, was picky. Now, I think of myself as particular. Of discerning taste. My mom used deception when I was a kid to get me to eat. She did things like grinding up raisins in the blender and putting them in cookies. I hated raisins alone. Still do. When we would comment that we liked the cookies, she would get all sly and let us know that we really liked raisins after all.

I hated the cunning deception of motherhood as a kid, but admittedly, I have resorted to such tactics. Some time ago, I bought Jessica Seinfeld’s book and set out on my course of deception. But her recipe was a little too low fat. I despise hate margarine. So my version has the real McCoy. And I use whole eggs. I also increased the amount of rolled oats. My sister in law actually grinds her own wheat into flour. It makes the most incredible baked goods. I used it in these, and it made amazing cookies!

When Jake asked what the chick peas were (because he was hovering for the Ghiradelli chocolate chips), I told him it was a secret ingredient that went into “kid food.” He bought it. He tried the cookies right out of the oven, and my deception was complete.